Right now she was anger. It was etched in every line of her petite frame, her brown eyes shooting sparks, her hands curled around her mug like claws.
“I’m glad you find it funny.”
“I didn’t say I found it funny.” He found nothing about her frustration funny. Because nothing about his own was remotely amusing.
“You do though, I can tell.”
He sat at the small breakfast table, taking the chair across from her. “Are you upset because I kissed you?” Her eyes narrowed. “Or are you upset because I stopped?” He shouldn’t have voiced the last part. It didn’t matter. It shouldn’t anyway. And yet he found this infuriating princess had burrowed herself beneath his skin, and he wasn’t certain how to excise her.
“I told you,” she said, “I’m not into ego-stroking this morning.”
His stomach tightened. “A good enough answer for me.” One his body should not be rejoicing in.
She cleared her throat, her expression comically composed now. “So, what are we going to do today?”
“I thought you’d put in a vote for board games.”
“Only if things get desperate.” He wondered what constituted desperate. He felt fairly desperate at the moment. Overwhelmed by a need that could never be met, obsessed with a woman he could not have and stuck in the snow with that same woman for the next couple of weeks. Desperate about summed it up.
“There’s a cable car that runs up the mountain if you’re interested. We could take lunch.”
“How high does it go?” she asked.
“About a thousand feet. It’s a pretty decent trip.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s … that sounds a bit adventurous.”
“Too adventurous for you, Eva?”
He was baiting her. And she would take it, that much he knew. That, and that he was a fool. Putting himself in a cable car with Eva, with no way of escape, was one of the stupidest ideas he’d ever had. And he’d had some stupid ideas in his life.
“No,” she said.
Confirmed. She’d taken the challenge. And he was an idiot.
“Good. I have some work to do, operatives to make contact with, but I’ll meet you back in the entryway in about three hours.”
And by that time, he had to get a rein on his libido. Otherwise he might undo everything he’d spent the past decade trying to rebuild.
Eva tried to keep her stomach from climbing into her throat as the small cable car, powered by a motorized pulley, crawled up the mountain. Snow-capped trees, a river and a small village were growing smaller and smaller with each passing moment. It was like the ascent of a plane in slow motion. With the creak of the pulley system to provide a disturbing sound effect.
The cable car was elegant and warm, designed to cater to those with money and power. She supposed she and Mak qualified as having both. At least, she did, in theory. Actually, her father had the money and the power. She had essentially nothing that was her own.
Disturbing.
Mak was sitting across from her in one of the plush, velvet-covered seats, leaning back, one leg extended in front of him. The extent of his relaxation irritated her.
But then, that was normal. She was edgy, emotional, and he was all calm and cool.
“About last night …” she said, mainly to get a reaction. And she wasn’t disappointed.
Every line in his body tightened, his eyes blazing heat for a moment before the flame flickered and died. Before he was able to put a damper on it with that ironclad self-control.
The fact that he had to make an effort helped a little bit.
“It doesn’t bear talking about, Eva.”
“I think it does,” she said.
“You pushed me too far,” he said, his voice rough.
“You’re attracted to me. You can call it whatever you like, blame me, but the truth is, if you didn’t want it, that wouldn’t have happened.”
He shrugged. “I don’t deny it.”
Shock slammed into her. “Oh … well …”
“I never said I wasn’t attracted to you. I said it wouldn’t happen.”
“Don’t you get tired of denying yourself things that you want?” she asked. She was tired of having the things she wanted denied for her. She hadn’t a clue why he seemed to do it voluntarily.